New Orleans Saints Add an LSU National Champion For 2025

The NFL world has been in its annual turbulence of roster cutdowns. Every team in the league must get their active roster down to 53 players. For the New Orleans Saints, it wasn't just the cuts that made noise, the team caught some attention with their additions.

As the Saints were trimming their roster, they were keeping an eye on other teams and their transactions. When the Saints saw that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were placing wide receiver Trey Palmer on waivers, they sprung into action. The Saints put in their waiver claim and added Palmer to their roster.

This is a big move for Palmer, as he returns to his home state of Louisiana, where he played high school and college football.

When Did Trey Palmer Play At LSU?

After playing for Kentwood High Magnet School in Kentwood, Louisiana, Palmer took his talents to Baton Rouge to play for the LSU Tigers. His first season for the Tigers was 2019, which happened to be one of the greatest seasons in college football history.

That season was the magical year that saw Head Coach Ed Orgeron and quarterback Joe Burrow lead the Tigers to the National Championship. Palmer did contribute to the team that season, playing in 9 games for the Tigers, but only putting up one catch for 6 yards. However his work on special teams was noteworthy, as Palmer was a punt and kick returner for the Tigers as a true freshman, which saw him return a punt for a touchdown during the season.

His sophomore year was hampered by the pandemic, but did see Palmer have a kickoff return touchdown. By his junior year with LSU, he stared to see more regular snaps on offense, in addition to his special teams play. While returning kicks, he also caught 30 passes for 344 yards and 3 touchdowns.

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For his final college season, Palmer transferred to Nebraska in 2022. He caught 71 passes for the Cornhuskers, racking up 1,043 yards and 9 touchdowns. Palmer still returned kickoffs and punts while at Nebraska. This effort earned him a selection to the All-Big Ten Second-Team for 2022.

How Did Trey Palmer Become a New Orleans Saints?

After his season with Nebraska, Palmer entered the 2023 NFL Draft. That year he was selected in the 6th Round of the NFL Draft, where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers used the 191st pick to take Palmer.

Over his first two years in the NFL, Palmer has played in 32 games, starting 11 of them for the Bucs. He has hauled in 51 catches for 557 yards in his career so far. Which does include 3 receiving touchdowns.

Palmer has continued to return kicks at the NFL level as well, but has yet to cash one in for a touchdown.

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What Can Saints Fans Expect From Trey Palmer?

If you're playing fantasy football, you probably shouldn't be excited to play Palmer in week 1 of the season. While Palmer does have a pretty clear path to playing time in New Orleans, he might need a couple weeks to get with the playbook.

But the Saints do really need help at the wideout position. They have Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, and Brandin Cooks slotted into the top wide receiver spots, but after those three, its Devaughn Vele (who the team just traded for last week), Mason Tipton (a second year player out of Yale with no touchdowns to his name), and that's it.

If the aging Cooks, injury prone Olave, or still slightly unproven Shaheed need to miss time, or regress in their output, Palmer might be the next man up, very quickly.